Janet Porter prays for control of the media, Sean Penn calls for their arrest

As a devout culture-war-pacifist, I find bits like this somewhat frightening.

On the other hand, Sean Penn’s call to put journalists who critique Venezuelan Macho-Dictator-for-life, Hugo Chavez, in jail is equally scary.  Said Penn:

Because every day, this elected leader [Chavez] is called a dictator here, and we just accept it! And accept it. And this is mainstream media, who should – truly, there should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies.

And the culture wars rage on.

In related news, the new battle raging in the culture war is one I hope ends quickly: torture.  I do think this one will be a much more short-lived fight. Perhaps it is just the eternal optimist in me. I think decent people can only support it if they remain afraid and convinced that it can somehow protect them, and wicked people can only foment fear for so long.  A swift, decisive victory here would be good for people on every side of the culture war.  On that note, here’s Jon Stewart laying waste to torture-advocate and, as Andrew Sullivan has dubbed him, “Mcarthyite mediocrity” Marc Thiesen (who has written a book on the subject, if you didn’t already know since he mentions it every time he opens his mouth or puts ink to paper….)